I have been here in this God
forsaken city for several days, and have taken my time in looking
round at things in general.

Jackson is not the same city
it was four months since. Then the streets were crowded to overflow
with that scum of the earth, speculators. Everything was speculation,
and all were worshipping their God Mammon. What do you see now? I
assure you during the three days of my stay there I have not seen a
solitary speculator. The Yankees made a clean sweep of them.

Jackson has very few
sympathizers here or in the army. They have been taught a lesson --
God has punished them -- and if the Yankees would go to Mobile and
clean off the scum as they did here, and then leave, some are almost
willing they should do so. Mobile needs just such a cleaning out.

*****

The cars from Meridian {on
the Southern of Mississippi RR} are now only running to within
four miles of this city, and are crowded daily. The Jackson
authorities allow the hacks and drays to charge from $5 to $10 and
$15, according to the weather, for each passenger, and $5 apiece for
trunks. There has been no attempt that I can see to repair the damages
the Yankees committed on the road. The fact is, from my experience the
Southern Road is one of the roads you read of. It is the worst managed
road throughout I ever heard of. I venture to say that if that good
natured, energetic and indefatigable engineer Col. Fleming {Superintendent
of the Mobile & Ohio RR}, had hold of it, the cars would be
today running to Jackson; and not only that, the facility of
transporting troops or any thing else would be doubled, even with its
present capacity. A man to travel on the Southern Road in the day
time, as I did, and look along the line and see the remains of smash
ups, &c., thinks of coffins, pine boxes without paint, or a
drowned rat, with some other old rat trying to recognize him.